Apparatus for releasably holding a vehicle visor and spring clip for use therein oftentimes fail to exert the required torsional resistance to prevent the visor from rotating out of its raised storage position, especially when the vehicle is driven on rough roads.
Other apparatus for releasably holding the vehicle visor and associated spring clips are capable of providing enough torsional resistance. However, such apparatus and spring clips oftentimes: (1) exert a damaging amount of force to other elements of the visor in providing such torsional resistance; (2) take-up too much space; and/or (3) weigh too much.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,131, to Fleming, discloses a visor control having an elastically deformable clamp of U-shaped cross-section with sides contacting a cylindrical pivot rod to hold the visor in position. The pivot rod has noncontinuous flats broken by lobes which align with recesses formed in the sides of the clamp. The sides of the clamp engage the edges of the flats as the rod is rotated within the clamp to provide a torque on the pivot rod as the sides abut the edge of the flats to provide snap-up action to move and hold the visor in a stored position.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,313, to Lanser et al., discloses a visor control including a U-shaped spring clamp with integrally converging sides terminating in inwardly projecting rounded tips which circumscribe a portion of the visor rod in all positions of adjustment. The sides of the clamp include alternately staggered slots which cooperate with alternately staggered lobes and flats disposed along the longitudinal axis of the visor pivot rod for selectively camming the visor into a snap-up raised storage position and spreading the sides to frictionally hold the visor rod therebetween when the visor is lowered to a use position. A tang extends from a portion of at least one of the sides of the U-shaped clamp and extends into a recess in the body of the visor to hold the clamp against rotation.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,303, to Miller, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a U-shaped clip having first and second arms within a cooperating clip housing integrally formed within the rear panel of the sun visor. A conduit is formed by the spring clip enabling the sliding of the pivot shaft due to both the clip housing and the spring clip. The clip housing is designed to cooperate with the pivot shaft to prestress one arm of the spring clip, thereby eliminating excess play between the spring clip and the sunvisor when the visor is rotated. The attachment mechanism is designed such that a snap-abut hook is properly received within a receiving hook, thereby effectively securing the sunvisor to the pivot shaft.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,949, to Miller et al., also assigned to the assignee of the present invention discloses a mounting system including a pivot shaft with a generally circular cross section which cooperates with the sunvisor. The pivot shaft has a flat surface along one side of the shaft which provides a detent position for the sunvisor when in the retracted position. An annular groove is provided which is oriented in a plane generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft. A first clip is provided which cooperates with the shaft and sunvisor. The first clip has a first leg and a second leg such that either the first leg or the second leg has a protrusion which cooperates with the annular groove to prevent either the first leg or the second leg from locating the flat surface while allowing the other leg to locate the flat surface to obtain the detent position when the sunvisor is in the retracted position. A second clip cooperates with the first clip to securely fasten the first clip about the pivot shaft.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,201,377, to Schoenheit, discloses a visor including a support, and a shield member pivoted to the support and movable relative thereto for adjustment of its position longitudinally of the axis of the pivot. A bowed leaf-spring having a crown engageable with the support and tensioned by movement of the shield member about the axis of the pivot holds the shield member in adjusted positions. A mechanism on the support releases the tension of the leaf-spring upon movement of the shield member to one position.